GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Giddy fans reveling in the Green Bay Packers’ fourth Super Bowl title bought out all 50,000 seats to Tuesday’s celebration at Lambeau Field in a matter of hours, despite forecasts that call for frigid conditions.
Tickets to the “Return to Titletown” event went on sale Monday morning for $5 each and were sold out by that evening, team spokesman Aaron Popkey said. Tickets were selling on the online ticket sales site StubHub on Tuesday for as much as $140.
The celebration figured to be an icy one. Forecasts for the Green Bay area on Tuesday called for a high of 10 degrees and subzero wind chills.
It didn’t matter to the Packers faithful, who began showing up at the stadium hours before the Tuesday event began.
Don Jobe, 24, of Appleton, and three of his friends were in the Lambeau parking lot by 9:45 a.m., braving 3-degree temperatures and a negative 14-degree wind chill to tailgate.
“That’s what true Packer fans do,” Jobe said as he struggled in the cold to light the group’s grill. “You only win the Super Bowl so often.”
Jobe’s friend, 21-year-old Stephanie Tipler, said the group wanted to get to Lambeau by 7 a.m., but that she talked them into holding off until 9 a.m.
Packed in the group’s trunk were brats, beer and cupcakes.
“Typical Wisconsin cuisine,” Tipler said.
The cold didn’t bother Ken Hampp, 23, of Appleton, as he sipped a Budweiser.
“The weather’s fine. I can barely feel it,” he said. “That’s my favorite thing about winter. You can just stick your beer in the snow.”
Green Bay has been in the throes of a non-stop party since the Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Sunday night.
Thousands of fans surged into the city’s downtown streets Sunday as green-and-gold fireworks exploded overhead. On Monday, fans packed city sidewalks to cheer on the team’s returning motorcade.
Schools let out early and people skipped work so they could see the team as it traveled from Austin Straubel International Airport to Lambeau Field along a route that included Lombardi Avenue, named in honor of the legendary Packers coach Vince Lombardi.
Some fans milled around the stadium’s atrium and lined up for tours of the stadium, while others just stood in the parking lot and screamed in jubilation.
The stadium’s pro shop was so packed with customers snatching up Super Bowl gear team that officials made shoppers stand in line to get in.